Da'an Shopping and the Importance of Shui

Today, we continued our touring of Taipei, but first took a slower approach to breakfast.  Elli was up extra early (again).  Despite our best efforts to get her back to sleep, I ended up watching her "ice skating" and doing cartwheels in the hotel lobby at 530 am.  While not good news for me, I do think the night shift staff gets a kick out of it.  This also was a bit of a bonus for Heather as she got to sleep in until 730 am (gasp).  Amazing what counts for sleeping in nowadays... And that is before the second one arrives. So I got to have two breakfasts today, the latter one with a well rested wife.

So the well fed crew journeyed down to a place not to be missed when in Taipei - the Jade and Flower market.  This is a two block long Asian market that is held every weekend in the bottom of a parking garage next to the Da'an park.  Ok, perhaps not the most scintillating description, but here are some pictures to show you how impressive the display and volume is.  First, the flowers, then a picture of a typical stall, followed by a wider shot.  If you put ~500 of the flower stalls and 500 more of the jewelry stalls together, that should give you an idea of the market.

The lady in the red shirt actually remembered us from 3 years ago, when she had made a bracelet for Elli out of Cat's Eye stone.  We are guessing she doesn't see many interracial adoptive families!

Elli with corn on the cob at the flower market.  She was a little tired, but this perked her right back up!

Elli spent a little bit of time in the Ergo carrier until we spotted some miniature decorations for her Fairy garden.

These puppies in the bike were making us all giggle...especially when the one in the basket escaped and the owner had to go chasing after it!

As to the other topic, the fun for the Focht family was cut a bit short today as Elli finally felt the effects of two very early mornings.  I felt the effects of carrying Elli and a backpack for most of the morning through the humid and hot environs of the markets.  I managed to grab lunch for my girls but was so disoriented from dehydration that I forgot how to order xiao long bao at the dumpling place.  If you know how well acquainted our family is with this dish, you will understand the gravity of the problem!

I made it back to the hotel and was able to guzzle some water and take a good nap with Elli.  As you might guess, we kept things low key this evening, but did enjoy some bubble tea (good for hydration, right?) and some local pastries.